User blog:Tesla Man/The Walking Wiki: Hysteria - Episode 3
Jose backed up but the infected’s hand was on the plank, keeping him in place. Jose didn’t know what to do, he tried to call for help, he really did, but nothing came out, just a soft whisper as his eyes stayed fixed on the infected as it slip down the steps and onto his body. In a quick motion, he leaned forward and grabbed the infected, bashing it against the nail, driving it into the skull like a kebob of wood, leg, and skull. He ripped the infected off of the nail and screamed for help as loud as he could as more infected approached the top of the stairs to his call. Joe walked up with a pipe in hand. “We were able to get the other security cameras going, and there’s two radios on the security guard’s belt, you’re going to stay down here and watch the baby and watch the cameras.” “Deal.” Jose hobbled onto one foot and hopped his way with Axel’s help over to the security room after Tiger wrapped up his leg. “Now what?” Lexi took a massive breath and looked over to the group. “There’s the elevator shafts.” Jose nodded his head over to the hallway of elevators. “Climb up them?” Tiger muttered nervously. “No shitstick. Fall down them.” Lexi said sarcastically. Axel regained his composure and walked the distance over to the elevator doors. One of them was propped open, the others were locked closed. He looked up the shaft, the groaning of the infected echoed down the vertical tunnel. “Let’s do it." ---- The shaft was boiling hot like a furnace and low on oxygen the higher up they got. Above the group, they only saw one open door on the fifth floor, and they were two stories away. Joe kept the radio on his belt and a crackle came from it, Jose’s voice broke the silence of the momentous efforts. “You guys up the elevator yet?” Jose called out, his voice entwined with static. “Shut the fuck up!” Lexi called down to the radio, keeping her focus on climbing the shaking ladder. Joe paused on the ladder four stories in the air and held on with one arm, using the other to detatch the radio. “Sorry Jose, we’re trying to concentrate. We’re almost there.” Joe muttered, catching his breath in between statements. “Okay.” Jose paused. “I just want to let you guys know that the… fifth floor was it? Yeah. The fifth floor is pretty much clear, most of the hordes are on the third and fourth.” “Thanks man.” Joe placed the radio back on his belt and looked up at the group who was almost at the top. He took a deep breath and sped up, catching up to them. “Alright.” Lexi closed her eyes and took a deep breath, looking at the cable in front of her, then past that at the elevator door, and then down five stories. She pulled herself closer to the ladder and focused her eyes on the cable. With one quick motion she pushed off, sending herself hurdling towards the cable, gabbing onto it with all her strength as it violently thrashed around. She calmed herself down, bringing herself closer to the cable, eventually letting it slow its shaking. Her hands were turning red from holding up her weight and she started sweating twice as much as she was. She took another deep breath and controlled the swing of the cable, first bringing it back towards the ladder, then out towards the door, repeating this until she was confident she could land on the 5th floor; which she did. She laid on her back, catching her breath and calming herself down as Axel grabbed hold of the cable, repeating her swinging action, eventually letting go. He landed next to her, and Tiger steeped up to the top of the ladder, ready to grab hold of the cable. Tiger followed suit, launching his body towards the cable, grabbing hold, calming down the cable, and launching himself towards the opening, landing where Axel landed before he got up. Joe was the last one, he unclipped his radio from his belt and called for Lexi. “Lexi! Catch!” He hurled it across the shaft and through the door, into Lexi’s hands. Joe’s hands shook the more he looked down and back up at the teen feet of distance he had to cross to make it to Lexi and the group. He gazed at the cable, setting his fears aside, and launched from to ladder. The was a snap as his foot caught in the ladder, twisting out of its socket with the force of Joe’s launch, eventually freeing itself from the ladder. Joe screamed in agony and he fell down the shaft and caught hold of the cable ten feet below the opening, the steel rope thrashing around, sending Joe spinning around the shaft. Joe’s falling momentum didn’t stop once he grabbed on and no matter how hard he gripped the cable, he kept falling down the shaft. The grooves in the steel ripped at the palms of his hands, and smoke lifted from his hands as he continued to descend down the shaft, still holding on, the friction burning his flesh in the worst rope burn he had ever experienced. He let go three stories from the bottom, the flailing cable launching him towards the side of the shaft, smashing his head into the wall, sending his now limp body to the ground. “Fuck” Lexi fell to her knees. “Fuck fuck fuck fuck.” Tears rolled down her face as she clicked the button on the radio. “Jose.” She gasped. “Joe’s dead.” She let go of the button and static came through the other side. ---- Jose was sitting in the security room, keeping an eye on camera that covered some of the 5th floor. He watched it all go down in the corner of the monitor and he was still in shock. His body was shaking and once Lexi called out for him through the radio, he pressed on the radio button, but no words could come from his mouth. “Jose?” He faintly heard Lexi call through the radio. “Jose respond to me.” Her voice was shaky. “I’m… I’m here.” He managed to mutter. He dropped the radio to the desk and clapped his hands to his face, letting the tears roll down. “Fuck!” He screamed in anger and he crossed his arms onto the table and planted his head into the cradle. “God dammit” He cried, hearing Lexi crying over the other end of the radio. ---- The group of now three: Lexi, Axel, and Tiger paced the empty hallways, trying to figure out what to do. Axel walked in circles as Lexi was on her knees, leaning onto her lead pipe crying. Tiger way on his stomach, looking down the shaft for any sign of Joe. “We’re going back down.” Axel took charge. “It’s not worth it.” “What about the old man? Huh? We can’t just leave him here. If we don’t get him, then that means Joe…” Tiger stopped talking, his words trailed out of his mouth into a whisper. “He’s got a point.” Lexi stood, still shaken. “Alright.” Axel continued pacing. “There’s ten floors of this hotel, which means we’re right in the middle. There’s hundreds of rooms for us to check. This is going to take longer than one night.” “Then let’s pick a room and spend the night in there.” Lexi approached him, she shaken demeanor finally gone. Tiger nodded. “I’ll check this one.” He walked out the elevator lobby and to the first room in the hallway, pulling his pipe from his waistband and raising it in the air ready to use it as he slowly pushed the door open, a musty wind broke out of the room and into the hallway. He looked around, absorbing the abandoned room’s essence, looking at the two beds. “Who’s gonna sleep on the couch?” Tiger called out of the room and to Lexi and Axel who were standing at the doorframe. The two walked in and looked into each corner of the room to make sure it was safe. “I guess I will.” Axel hopped onto the old couch and rested his head back against the armrest. “Hey!” Tiger let out a chuckle. “Guess what I found!” Tiger shut the refrigerator with his foot and carried out an armful of sodas. “What else was in there?” Lexi nodded towards the fridge. “Nothing. Some bread and carrots.” Tiger set the bottles onto the coffee table. “Huh.” Lexi stood up from the bed she was sitting on and walked past Axel who was getting ready to take a nap, and stared out the window. The skyscrapers reflected a red glow as their first day in the hotel came to an end. “Don’t you think…” Lexi held out her arm and Tiger tossed a bottle into it from across the room. “We should’ve gotten settled in a bit better before we went on this little search?” She popped open the bottle with her pipe and sat back down on her bed, turning her head away from the decimated city. About a week before she came to the city and met with Axel and Tiger, the city underwent a napalm strike, the tallest building were cut in half and black streaks ran down the sides of other ones. The hotel they were currently in which stood at fifteen stories tall, lost its top few stories to the strikes. The plan was to move up to the roof once the National Guard came through, and light a signal fire to passing military helicopters. But that would be weeks away. “We were as settled as we were going to get.” Axel muttered before drifting off to sleep. “Well, I sure as hell can’t sleep.” Tiger walked over and sat next to Lexi. “Then let’s start searching I guess.” Lexi stood and twirled her lead pipe in her hand, finishing off the bottle, chucking it out the window and down onto the city streets. Tiger did the same and the two stood. “Should we take the radio?” Lexi walked towards the door. “We won’t be long.” Tiger said as he opened the door and stepped out into the empty hallway. ---- Jose sat and stared at the bright monitor, keeping an eye on the hallway Lexi and Tiger were in, as they each broke open their own doors and searched each room, usually coming back out with a little more blood on their pipe. Jose leaned back in his chair and turned to baby Alexis who was sleeping in her makeshift crib next to the boxes of food. He rubbed his leg and braced the pain as he stood from his chair, leaning on the staff of wood he used for support as he hobbled out of the security room. He left the hallway and towards the stairs which were blockaded by a bookshelf and couch, a pile of chairs and tables laid to the side, unused. He grabbed a pipe from the lobby desk and limped over to the discarded pile, raising the pipe into the air. With one downward swing, he smashed one of the chairs and picked up the broken pieces and made his way to the front entrance, ready to board it back up. He raised the pipe to a nail, about to board up another section of the entrance when he stopped at a sound. Clicking of teeth. ---- He scrambled into the room and slammed the door closed, sliding the lock into position. He dropped from his feet and leaned his back up against it to catch his breath. His heart was pounding and his ears were flooded with the sound of his rushing blood. He calmed himself down with a few deep breaths then stood from the door and grabbed the chair in front of the monitors, propping it up against the door, securing it into place. “Well when I was removing the plank out of Jose’s leg, there was dark red blood on it. Like on the pipe.” Axel pointed his soda bottle towards the bloody pipe on the table. “I was thinking the infected blood got into his system.” “Well, he’s talking just fine. I wouldn’t worry about him too much.” Lexi patted his back and stood. “I’m not worried about Jose.” Axel shook his head. “I’m worried that he’s locked in a room with my baby girl. If he turns, then there’s not much I can do to stop him.” ---- Category:Blog posts